Making It: Radical Home Ec for a Post-Consumer World (27 page)

The spacing of the plants in the bed will depend on your gardening methodology. The one style we recommend against is planting in rows. Unless you plan to drive a tractor between your rows, it’s a waste of space. Plants like to cozy up to one another. They don’t want to be crowded to the point of choking, but they do like to be close. Ideally, their leaves will just touch when they are full grown. Close planting shades the soil, protecting it from drying out and keeping the temperature of the roots more consistent. This leads to happy plants and larger yields.

We arrange our beds using what’s called a French intensive layout (see the illustration on page
178
), a hexagonal pattern popularized by gardening expert John Jeavons. Planting this way ensures that the plants will grow close to one another, but not too close, and it’s an efficient use of space. To lay out this shape evenly, we use cutout wooden triangles of various sizes ranging from 3 to 18 inches. The size of the triangle we use is determined by the spacing needs of the plant. Consult the seed package for recommendations on seed spacing, though we often plant a little more tightly than those recommendations. Jeavons’s book also offers spacing suggestions for specific vegetables.

This is not the only way to plant, however. Some gardeners prefer to plant in grids, especially folks following another useful method detailed in Mel Bartholomew’s book
Square Foot Gardening.
Others follow their own path, intuitively developing spacing and plant combinations that work for them.

Direct Sowing

In this project we’ve focused on starting seeds in trays, but of course you can plant them straight in your garden bed. Indeed, some vegetables, like lettuce and radishes, don’t like to be transplanted. Seed packages will note this, saying “sow directly.” To plant straight in the ground, you must wait until the temperatures are in the correct range outdoors—again, as noted by the seed packet. Follow the same basic instructions for planting in flats, except you will want to space the seeds at wider intervals, to account for the mature size of the plants. See the instructions on transplanting seedlings for hints on layout and spacing.

However, if the packet does not specify direct sowing, starting seeds in flats has some material advantages. Seeds and tiny seedlings are prey to many creatures and vulnerable to the weather, so your rate of loss with direct sowing will be higher than with transplanted seedlings. In addition, starting seeds indoors allows you to get a jump on the growing season.

On the other hand, direct sown plants don’t suffer from transplant shock, so they grow fast and strong—if they survive their early days. We plant both ways, and most likely you will want to as well. The trick is to become familiar with the growth habits of different types of vegetables and the conditions in your own garden.

47>

How to Prepare a Bed for Planting

I
T’S ALL ABOUT THE SOIL.
Repeat this mantra over and over and you’ll grow amazing vegetables. Topsoil is a living thing. Pop some under a microscope: You’ll see a whole world of microbes, fungi, and countless other critters too numerous to name. Your job as a vegetable gardener is to help that life flourish. Here’s another mantra:
YOU DON’T GROW PLANTS, YOU GROW SOIL.
Garden vegetables are some of the fussiest, most inbred plants nature has ever seen, and you’ll need very rich, loose soil to grow them successfully. Here’s how we prep our soil for our vegetable garden.

YOU’LL NEED

• A soil test
  
• Quality compost (amount varies by the size of the bed being prepared)
  
• Soil amendments (as recommended by the soil test report)
  
• Sharp shovel or long-handled spade
  
• Pitchfork
  

PUTTING IT TOGETHER

STEP 1: TEST YOUR SOIL

A soil test tells you what amendments you need to add to make vegetables happy and also lets you know if your soil contains anything bad, such as lead or other heavy metals. All you have to do is send soil samples to a testing center. Just follow their directions. Many county extension offices offer free or low-cost soil testing services. The University of Massachusetts, Amherst (umass.edu/plsoils/soiltest) has an inexpensive soil test available to anyone regardless of your location. Timberleaf Soil Testing (
timberleafsoiltesting.com
) offers extensive testing services with easy-to-interpret results and specific recommendations. Tests for heavy metals, soil pH, micronutrients, and level of organic matter may cost more. Some companies charge for phone consultations, which can be useful if you’re not familiar with soil science terminology. After the soil report, you’ll know what kind of soil you have and what you can do to improve it. We test the soil when we’re gardening a piece of land for the first time or if a crop fails mysteriously.

K
ELLY:
I’d just like to point out that the soil test is not completely necessary. We gardened more or less successfully for years before we ever got one. Erik is just really enchanted with soil testing of late.

E
RIK:
In many places a soil test is free (ask your local county extension service), so why not use it? It can also save you money, since you won’t be using fertilizer you don’t need. And if those ain’t enough reasons, you should know that too much fertilizer can be bad for the environment when it runs off your veggie patch and into the stormwater system.

K
ELLY:
But I don’t think anyone should get held up on starting a garden for lack of a soil test. You’ve got to admit that double-digging and adding good compost go a long way toward building healthy soil.

E
RIK:
Sure, but if you’re having a problem and you can’t figure out what’s wrong, a soil test can give you a clue. It’s especially important to test if you suspect your soil might be contaminated with lead or chromium.

If it turns out you’ve got lead or other contaminants in your soil, we recommend building raised beds and filling them with imported soil or growing in containers. Removing and replacing soil is expensive, and phytoremediation, the process of growing cover crops to remove toxins, is a science in its infancy and not practical for amateurs. Most likely, though, the report will not come back with bad news. Instead, it will give you a snapshot of your soil and tell you what you need to add to make it better. We’ll get back to the topic of soil improvement soon.

STEP 2: LOCATE YOUR BED

Determine the perimeter of the bed and establish pathways around it. Once the soil in a garden bed is prepared, it should never be stepped on. Design the bed so you can reach the center of the bed from both sides. If you can access it only from one side, make it narrow enough that you can reach across the whole thing. For two-sided access, 4 feet wide is about right. Generally, it’s best to orient the garden north-south. That orientation provides the most sun, and you can plant tall things on the north side where they won’t shade the rest of the garden. However you position your bed, remember that vegetable gardens need as much sun as possible, at least 6 hours of good light a day, so take into account trees and buildings that might shade the location during the course of the day.

STEP 3: DOUBLE-DIG

Vegetables need at least 2 feet of rich, fluffy soil for best growth. They will not grow in hard, compressed soil. You should be able to plunge your hand into the soil without much resistance. If this is not the case (and it usually is not), you’ll have to “double-dig.” Double-digging is a method for loosening the soil and working in compost. The addition of compost is essential. Compost not only provides nutrients that plants need, it also helps keep the soil loose and improves its ability to retain water. Double-digging is not the same as tilling. Tilling turns the soil upside down, sending the most biologically active part underground and bringing less-rich soil to the top. That’s not what you want. Double-digging is about loosening the texture of the soil while disturbing it as little as possible.

Mark the boundaries of your bed and clear any weeds with a hoe. Once clear, distribute a 1-inch layer of compost evenly over the area of the bed. (See Projects 58 and 59 to learn how to make your own compost.) Starting at one end of the bed, dig out a trench a foot wide and a foot deep that stretches the width of the bed.
^A
Make the trench as neat as possible. Put the soil you remove aside, away from the bed. You won’t use this section of soil in this bed again. Next, take a pitchfork and plunge it into the bottom of the trench, using your foot to press it down.
^B
Wiggle the prongs to loosen the soil at the bottom of the trench. Push the fork as deep as it will go, so that you’re loosening as much soil as you can. Do this over and over, all along the length of the trench.

Now step onto the bed (the rule about never stepping on the bed commences once double-digging is complete) and position yourself a couple of feet away from the trench, facing the trench. Plunge the spade straight through the compost, 1 foot away from the trench. Push the spade as deep as it will go. Shove that 1 foot of soil forward into the open trench.
^C
Don’t scoop it up or mix it, just push it forward and let it fall into the trench.
^D
This way you disturb the soil as little as possible. Work your way along the length of the trench, pushing one spade’s depth worth of soil after another into the trench. When you’ve traveled the length of the bed, the original trench should be filled in, and a new 1-foot-wide, 1-foot-deep trench created. Loosen the soil at the bottom of this new trench with the prongs of the fork,
^E
as you did the last time. Then step backward another pace and do it all over again.
^F
Proceed like this until you reach the end of the bed. When it’s done, the entire bed will be composed of loose soil.

Keep your shovel or spade clean and sharp! A good-quality shovel, which has been sharpened with a file, will make double-digging go a lot faster and easier.

STEP 4: AMEND

When you’ve finished double-digging, sprinkle any amendments as recommended by the soil test over the bed in the amounts specified by the test. Work amendments lightly into the top 3 inches of the soil with your pitchfork. Our most recent test said we were short on nitrogen, which we added in the form of alfalfa meal. Nitrogen depletion is one of the most common soil problems. Whatever your soil’s diagnosis, we strongly encourage you to amend it with organic ingredients only. Artificial soil boosters are like crack cocaine in the garden.

STEP 5: WATER

Water the bed thoroughly and, ideally, wait 2 weeks before planting. This will germinate weed seeds, which you can pull out before you plant.

STEP 6: PLANT AND MAINTAIN

Plant your seedlings in this newly rich, fluffy soil. With the soil in such good shape, planting is a breeze and the seedlings should thrive. If you refrain from stepping on the bed, you’ll never have to double-dig again. And this is a good thing for both you and the soil. Double-digging is the most gentle way of loosening soil, but any disturbance compromises the rich microbial and fungal networks within it. If your soil is in balance and full of compost, earthworms will do all future digging for you. But each time you plant, make sure to work in more compost. Work it gently into the top 3 inches of soil, just as you did the amendments. If you’ve added enough compost and the right amendments, you should not have to fertilize your vegetables. Veggies have a short life and the initial preparation—adding compost and amendments—should be enough to grow them to harvest without additional fertilizer. Note that double-digging is for vegetables and flowers only—you don’t need to do it if you plan to grow sturdy native plants.

STEP 7: KEEP A HEALTHY PERSPECTIVE

If you experience any failures and frustrations in the garden, don’t worry so much about the individual vegetable or the pest that’s eating it. Instead, remember the mantra: It’s all about the soil. Nothing is more important.

Healthy soil creates healthy plants that resist disease and insect infestations. Sure, you have to plant the right thing at the right time, and you can take steps to control pests, but if you have good soil, your problems should be few. In the end, it all comes down to composting, amending, and testing that soil. In the words of organic farming pioneer Sir Albert Howard, “Fertile soil is the foundation of healthy crops, healthy livestock, and, last but not least, healthy human beings.”

DOUBLE-DIGGING AND RAISED BEDS

If you start with a raised bed and imported soil, you won’t have to double-dig initially, but if the soil in a raised bed ends up compressed or your plants just aren’t thriving, a soil test and a double-dig may be in order.